After killer storm, US faces threat of ‘epic rain’
A storm that killed 13 people weakened to a tropical depression yesterday, but US authorities said the devastation – including catastrophic flooding – is far from over.
Most of the fatalities from Florence, which made landfall on Friday as a Category 1 hurricane, occurred in North Carolina, where officials confirmed eight victims.
A woman and her baby were among the first fatalities when a tree fell on their house, contributing to a death toll that US media said had reached 13 – 10 in North Carolina and three in South Carolina.
The National Hurricane Centre downgraded Florence but said that “flash flooding and major river flooding will continue over a significant portion of the Carolinas”.
On Saturday, residents tried to return home, driving through flooded roads, armed with chainsaws to clear fallen trees that covered the road.
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper warned against such efforts.
“All roads in the state right now are at risk of floods,” he said. “As rivers keep rising and rain keeps falling, the flooding will spread. More inland counties are issuing mandatory evacuations to get people to safety quickly.”
He said the storm was “unloading epic amounts of rainfall in some places, measured in feet, not inches”.
Steve Goldstein, of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said some areas had taken 60 centimetres of rain and could expect up to 50cm more as the weather system moved over eastern North Carolina.
In New Bern, a riverfront city near the North Carolina coast that endured storm surges of up to three metres, residents took stock of the damage after flood waters began receding and authorities rescued hundreds of stranded people.
South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster on Saturday announced that a 61-year-old woman had died when her car hit a downed tree.
CNN also reported that a man and a woman died in South Carolina’s Horry County as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning.
President Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday that “five deaths have been recorded thus far,” and expressed sympathy to the victims’ families.
The White House said Mr Trump would visit hurricane-hit areas next week, “once it is determined his travel will not disrupt any rescue or recovery efforts”.
The military announced it was sending 200 soldiers to as- sist in storm response and recovery efforts, with 100 lorries and equipment. Besides federal and state emergency crews, rescuers were being helped by volunteers from the so-called Cajun Navy – civilians with light boats, canoes and air mattresses – which helped out in Texas during Hurricane Harvey.